Festival Irish Dancing

Irish Folk Dancing is the original name for the genre of Irish Dancing that is performed by those within the festival community. This term was coined by folk revivalists in the 1920s to denote country dances and step dances that were popular during the 1800s. Festival is one of the oldest communities of Irish Dancing, emerging when Irish Folk Dancing was added to British Musical Festivals in the late 1920s in Northern Ireland. Most Festival Irish Dancing schools belong to the Festival Dance Teacher's Association, but some are independent. Educational establishments and youth organisations also participate in Festival Irish Dancing competitions. The Festival Irish Dancing community is found mainly in the eastern part of Ulster.

The Gaelic League

In the early 20th century, the Gaelic League set about finding true Gaelic dances and introduced them in a competitive context at regional feiseanna. One of the most famous feiseanna in Ulster was the Feis na nGleann, which opened in Waterfoot in 1904.

By 1930, the Gaelic League had established a commission to review Irish Dancing. An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelica (CLRG) set about standardising and promoting traditional Irish Dancing throughout the 1930s.

Despite the Gaelic League's determination to stamp out any foreign forms of dance, the dances selected by them comprised Irish, Scottish and pan-European influences, whilst the music was primarily of Irish and Scottish origin.

The Folk Revival

During the 1920s, folk revivalists, such as the Lambeg Irish Folk Dancing Society, researched and practised country dances in an attempt to save old dances in Ulster. This was part of a wider, global folk dancing movement led by folk cultural enthusiasts, such as Cecil Sharp. As part of this movement, Irish folk dancing was incorporated into the Girl Guides in the mid-1920s and was then added to the syllabus of musical festivals, starting with the Larne Musical Festival in 1928 and followed by the Ballymena and Portadown musical festivals in 1929.

Today, the Gaelic League's form of Irish dancing has become known within the Festival Irish Dancing community as the 'feis' style of Irish dancing. Up until the 1980s, few Irish Dancing pupils would have been aware that there were two traditions. Differences in appearance today have brought attention to the festival movement.

Peadar O'Rafferty

The Irish Folk Dancing movement in the 1920s followed the Gaelic League's preferences, adapting old rustic quadrilles and country dances into a more refined style. The Irish Folk Dancing movement also adopted the Gaelic League's step (solo) dances. This was largely down to the influence of Belfast Dance Master, Peadar O'Rafferty (b. Peter Rafferty).

When Irish folk revivalists were researching country dances in the 1920s, they often crossed paths with the Gaelic League. Peadar O'Rafferty bridged the feis and festival movements and recorded old dances that were still alive in the countryside in his 1934 publication, Irish folk Dance.

Musical Festivals

During the 1930s, Irish Folk Dancing became the most popular competition at musical festivals. Hundreds of girls and boys were now attending Irish dancing classes in their hometowns.

Up until 1948, it was possible for 'musical festival dancers' to enter feiseanna and for 'feis dancers' to enter musical festivals, but rules soon came into play which meant that dancing teachers registered with An Coimisiún Le Rincí Gaelica (CLRG) were not permitted to send their dancers to musical festivals: the Commission did not approve of the British symbolism attached to them. It also became necessary for Irish dancing teachers to be registered with the Commission before entering their pupils into the feiseanna.

Stella and Patricia Mulholland

One Irish dancing school closely associated with musical festivals in the late 1920s and early 1930s was the Mulholland School, which was led by Belfast dance mistress Stella Mulholland, a former pupil of Peadar O'Rafferty. This school thrived in 'non-nationalist' communities, as well as in nationalist communities, attracting Protestants and Catholics in almost equal numbers. Among the Mulholland School pupils who went on to become national champions in the 1940s were Betty Lewis and Yvonne Hood, both Protestants from Larne. Indeed, Stella Mulholland opened a school in Larne at the British Legion in 1931.

Patricia Mulholland, who was also a much respected violinist at musical festivals, took over her sister's Irish dancing school in 1936 and continued to send pupils to both festivals and feiseanna until 1951, when she was suspended by CLRG for participating in an event at which the British national anthem was played: Patricia Mulholland had succeeded Peadar O'Rafferty as the Girl Guides instructor and had taken a group of Girl Guides to the Festival of Britain the same year. Due to a conflict of interest, she decided to leave CLRG, and this is often seen as the point at which schools with a festival focus and schools with a feis focus began to diverge in style, the festival schools retaining the O'Rafferty and Mulholland traditions, the feis schools modernising apace in a global setting. Patricia Mulholland likewise set up an Irish ballet company and was known throughout the province for theatre shows choreographed with Irish steps and accompanied by traditional Irish music. In 1958, she also helped establish a regional competition, the Northern Ireland Irish Dancing Championships, for champions from the musical festivals.

Festival Irish Dancing lineage

In addition to Patricia Mulholland, dance mistresses Veronica Convery and Agnes McConnell were key to the development of Irish dancing at musical festivals. Indeed, most Festival Irish Dancing Schools can trace their dancing lineage back to the Mulholland sisters, Veronica Convery or Agnes McConnell.

FDTA founder Marjorie Gardiner from Larne was a Mulholland pupil in the 1930s. She set up a school in 1936 and taught Irish dancing within the festival community for more than sixty years, creating a long festival lineage of Irish dancing in Larne through pupils like Bridie Kemp, Moira Metson and Nancy Hooper.

Betty Greer, who ran an Irish Dancing School in Ballyclare for more than sixty years, was a pupil of Veronica Convery in Ballymena in the 1930s. When she set up her own school after the Second World War, she remained friends with feis teacher Alice McAleer from the Convery School. By the 1950s, the Convery School dancers were no longer dancing at musical festivals. Betty would often meet Alice McAleer to learn the latest feis techniques.

Maureen McCann, taught by Patricia Mulholland in the 1930s, was influential in bringing Irish folk dancing to Bangor, setting up a festival there in 1955. She taught Lilias O'Reilly for a short while before she retired. Lilias went on to dance with Patricia Mulholland and runs the Reilly School today.

Irene McCann, a pupil of Yvonne Hood, also from the Patricia Mulholland line, was instrumental in keeping the festival tradition alive in Portadown from the 1960s onwards.

Many dance teachers in Ballymena and north Antrim can trace their Irish dancing lineage back to the McConnell family. Agnes McConnell's pupils competed at the very first festivals in 1928 and 1929. Sadie Bell was a pupil and cousin of Sally McCarley, who had danced for Agnes McConnell in the 1930s. Sadie set up her dancing school in the Carnaughts Elementary School in the late 1940s, but moved into Ballymena town centre, where she opened the Seven Towers School at the Protestant Hall. Seven Towers School of Irish Dancing is the oldest Festival Irish Dancing school.

Jean Tennant, who set up a festival in Ballymoney, was taught by Fred McConnell, Agnes' younger brother. Jean taught dancers such as Marlene Oliver, Edwina Milliken and Dominic Graham, who all went on to run their own festival schools.

Many more schools, teachers, musicians, dressmakers and committee members have been stars in the Irish Festival Dancing story. This short article does not allow for all their stories to be told. 

Festival Dance Teacher's Association

By 1970, the Festival Irish Dancing community was large in number with a strong network of teachers, dancers and musicians. Local festivals were already attracting around 1,500 dancers in the 1950s. By the mid-1970s, that number had increased to around 2,400. Since the first Irish folk dancing festival in Larne in 1928, a collective organisation for festivals had never been established. This was mainly due to the fact that each musical festival had its own local committee, covering music, choral speaking and dancing. Yet, there had been a general upsurge in the number of Festival Irish Dancing teachers and pupils after the Second World War, with the likes of Betty Greer, Moira Metson, Bridie Kemp, Maureen McCann, Sheila Fitzpatrick, Lily Agnew, Norman Maternaghan, Nancy Hooper and Jean Tennant setting up Irish Dancing schools across the province.

In 1971, feis Irish dancing teaching body, An Comhdháil, broke away from the Gaelic League's male-dominated Commission, which did not have adequate representation from teachers. Festival Irish Dancing teachers Sadie Bell, Marjorie Gardiner and Paddy Mulrine, who had all participated in feiseanna in their youth, were invited to an Irish dancing meeting at the International Hotel in Belfast. They were advised by An Comhdáil to set up their own organisation. The FDTA was initially known as the Nine Glens Association. A Nine Glens regional championship competition was also established. This was renamed the Ulster Championships in 1986.

The festival tradition now has two main regional festivals: the FDTA Ulster Championships and the Northern Ireland Championships. With the exception of a few independent schools who are not part of FDTA, the same competitors often attend both festivals. These competitions are, in effect, the world championships of Festival Irish Dancing, promoting Irish dancing at an international standard. They are also among the most historic of Irish dancing festivals on the global stage.

Style

There are stylistic differences between Festival Irish Dancing and Feis Irish Dancing, notably regarding the tempo of the slip jig and solo set dances. Observers often note a less rigid body, with a traditional bend at the knee. Grace, rhythm and steps are valued over athleticism, while storytelling is encouraged in the interpretation of set dance music. Festival dancers may also compose their own set dances to original music.

In competitions, female festival dancers wear knee-length velvet dresses in the 1930s-1950s style: although there has been a degree of modernisation in these costumes, dancers do not wear the highly embellished dresses that have become prominent in feis competitions since the early 2000s. Festival dancers are not permitted to wear wigs (unless for medical reasons), whilst excessive makeup and tan are discouraged. The heavy shoes are the same as those of the feis tradition, with the exception that they are black and unadorned, while soft shoes in leather or canvas take the traditional shape of the 1930s pump, with one criss-crossed elastic strap.

A cross-community tradition

The festival tradition of Irish dancing has a unique history in that it has attracted tens of thousands of dancers from Protestant backgrounds since the 1920s, even during the period of conflict known as The Troubles (c.1969-1998), when Irish culture was sometimes shunned. While the festival dance community remains strongly cross-community in nature, many dancers from 'non-nationalist' communities have also embraced bourgeoning feis communities in recent years.

Festival Irish dancing has been overlooked in narratives of Irish cultural history. Its unique role in Ulster Scots cultural history has also been ignored. This due to an absence of women's voices. Since 2017, I have made an effort to highlight the story behind the dancing, costumes and music, and to provide an alternative view of identity politics in Northern Ireland.

To learn more, check out my book, Irish dancing: the Festival story, which is available here.

See also the following articles:


https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/when-orangemen-and-soldiers-took-to-irish-dancing-the-new-book-which-traces-the-huge-influence-of-protestants-on-a-tradition-mistakenly-believed-to-be-preserve-of-catholics/37426970.html 
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-british-army-woman-who-was-one-of-ireland-s-greatest-irish-dancers-1.3738140 
https://www.irishnews.com/arts/2018/10/18/news/irish-dancing-always-part-of-protestant-culture-says-larne-author-angeline-king-1460046/ 

Cassie O'Neill, Glens Feis, 1904, reproduced for Irish Dancing: The Festival Tradition, with permission from Museums NI.

Marjorie Andrews (Gardiner), 1934. Medals were very difficult to win in the 1930s, and were worn on a belt while dancing. Marjorie competed at feis and was instrumental in setting up the Festival Dance Teacher's Association.

Yvonne and Monica Convery were pupils of Peadar O'Rafferty in the 1920s and competed with the Mulholland sisters. Many festival schools can trace their lineage to them.

Replica of Cassie O'Neill's dress, commissioned by Larne Arts Centre by curator Marion Kelso for the Mid and East Antrim Council Irish Dancing exhibition, 2018.

An original Mulholland School dress from 1934, the most historic dress in Leslie Baird's festival dance dress collection. Shown at the Mid and East Antrim Exhibition of 2018.

Patricia Mulholland, violinist, choreographer and dance mistress. Many dance schools today can trace their lineage to Miss Muholland and her older sister, Stella.